Managing External Casts - MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR Use Manual

Edit the cast member.
2
If you change an image in the Paint window and then edit the image with an external editor,
changes made in the Paint window, with the exception of registration points, are lost. Director
warns you of this possibility.
Save and close the file. Director re-imports the cast member.
3
Controlling cast member unloading
When Director runs low on memory, it removes cast members from memory. You use the
Property inspector to specify the priority with which a cast member is removed from memory.
When a cast member is available in memory, it appears almost instantly. When it needs to be
loaded from disk, the loading can cause a delay. Set your cast members so that frequently used cast
members remain in memory as long as possible.
These settings are the same for all types of cast members.
To specify the Unload setting:
Select the cast members in the Cast window.
1
On the Property inspector Member tab, display the Graphical view and then select an option
2
from the Unload pop-up menu:
3—Normal
sets the selected cast members to be removed from memory after any priority 2 cast
members are removed.
2—Next sets the selected cast members to be among the first removed from memory.
1—Last sets the selected cast members to be the last removed from memory.
0—Never sets the selected cast members to be retained in memory; these cast members are
never unloaded.

Managing external casts

An external cast is a separate file that must be explicitly linked to a movie for the movie to use its
cast members.
If you link an external cast to a movie, Director opens the cast every time it opens the movie. If
you don't link an external cast to a movie, you must open and save the file separately. You can use
unlinked external casts as libraries to store commonly used elements for authoring, such as scripts,
buttons, and so on. For more information, see
When you distribute a movie that uses an external cast, you must include the external cast file.
For disk-based movies, the cast must be in the same relative path in your files as it was when the
movie was created. For Shockwave movies on the web, the cast must be at the specified URL.
To create an external cast:
Select File > New > Cast.
1
Type a name for the new cast.
2
Specify that the cast be stored as an external cast.
3
If you don't want to use the cast in the current movie, deselect the Use in Current
Movie option.
"Creating libraries" on page
Managing external casts
48.
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